1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus, and, in detail, to an image forming apparatus provided with a paper ejecting part in which recorded recording paper is stacked, on a top of a printer part (image forming part), and, provided with a scanner part (image reading part) on a top of the paper ejecting part. In particular, this disclosure relates to an image forming part configured as mentioned above, in which jammed recording paper can be easily removed therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, as disclosed by Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2002-154705 (patent document 1) for example, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in an image forming apparatus, a scanner part 3 is provided on a top of a printer part 2 producing an image on recording paper, the scanner part 3 reading an image of an original placed on a contact glass. Further, a paper ejecting part 4 is disposed in a space between the printer part 2 and the scanner part 3 for ejecting recording paper on which an image has been produced by the printer part 2 and stacking the same. In this configuration, the paper ejecting part 4 is prevented from projecting from a side surface of the apparatus body.
FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of an appearance of the image forming apparatus in the prior art. FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of a state in which a cover of the image forming apparatus 200 is opened. This image forming apparatus is of an ink-jet type. A front cover 51 provided on a front surface of the apparatus shown in FIG. 7 is an articulated cover which is opened when an each color ink cartridge 35 is replaced. As shown in FIG. 8, when the front cover 51 is opened, respective color ink cartridges 35 are exposed.
Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a conveyance cover 52 separates between the printer part 2 and the paper ejecting part 4, and forms a part of a paper ejecting tray. When the conveyance cover 52 is opened, as shown in FIG. 8, a recording paper conveyance path which conveys recorded recording paper to the paper ejecting part 4 becomes accessible. When paper jam occurs in the recording paper conveyance path, the conveyance cover 52 may be opened and the jammed paper may be removed. In other words, the conveyance cover 52 is an openable/closable cover for exposing the recording paper conveyance path for removing jammed paper. For the purpose of allowing the opened conveyance cover 52 to be held in the space part of the paper ejecting part 4, the conveyance cover 52 may be opened in such a manner that it is bent at a plurality of fulcrums (although FIG. 8 actually shows a configuration such that the conveyance cover 52 is opened about a single fulcrum). After that, a conveyance path part accommodating the recording paper conveyance path is moved to a predetermined position in an opened state, and thus, the recording paper may be removed from a jam occurrence place.
When a side cover 53 is opened, as shown in FIG. 8, the recording paper conveyance path for conveying the recording paper from a paper feeding part to the image forming part becomes accessible. As a result, when paper jam occurs in this part, jam removing work can be made after the side cover 53 is opened.
FIG. 9 shows a side elevational sectional view of an internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 200 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. In this configuration, as shown in FIG. 9, recording paper 1 held in a paper cassette 22 is supplied to an ink-jet engine 20, sheet by sheet, through the recording paper conveyance path 24 by means of a paper feeding unit 23 and so forth. The ink-jet engine 20 has a paper conveyance system employing an electrostatic absorbing belt 27, for example, and, on the recording paper 1 conveyed by the electrostatic absorbing belt 27, an image is transferred with a printing head 29 mounted on a carriage moving in a reciprocating manner in a main scan direction (direction perpendicular to the FIG. 9).
After that, the thus-recorded recording paper 1 is ejected and stacked in a paper ejecting tray 41, after passing through the recording paper conveyance path 24 by means of paper ejecting rollers 40. The recording paper conveyance path 24 between the paper feeding unit 23 and the paper ejecting rollers 40 is configured to have an S-shape shown in FIG. 9, and, component members such as conveyance guide plates 25, conveyance rollers 26 (or inverting conveyance rollers, not shown) and so forth are set at predetermined positions, whereby the recording paper 1 is conveyed in a predetermined direction in the recording paper conveyance path 24.
However, in the configuration of the image forming apparatus 200 described above with reference to FIGS. 7 through 9, in which the paper ejecting part 4 is provided between the printer part 2 and the scanner part 3, the conveyance cover 51 may be bent at the plurality of fulcrums (although FIG. 8 actually shows the configuration such that the conveyance cover 52 is opened about the single fulcrum as mentioned above) and thus may be opened and may be held in a narrow space of the paper ejecting part 4 as shown in FIG. 8 as mentioned above, for removing jammed paper when paper jam occurs there. In this case, generally speaking, the conveyance cover 52 cannot be held stably in this space without being supported in its opened state.
Therefore, a user should hold the conveyance cover 52 in the opened state by his or her hand, and the user should carry out jam removing work on the recording paper conveyance path 24 by the other hand, in many cases. In this case, the user cannot use both hands for the jam removing work, and as a result, the user may not easily remove the jammed recording paper. Thus, troublesome and time-wasting work may be required.
Further, even after the conveyance cover 52 is thus opened, the jammed paper may be hidden behind the conveyance guide plates 25, which are parts of the recording paper conveyance path, when the user tried to view the recording paper conveyance path 24 from the top. As a result, a place at which paper jam actually occurs may not be found out easily.
Further, in some case, paper jam occurs at such a place in the recording paper conveyance path 24, that, a user's hand can reach the jam occurrence place even if an opening angle of the conveyance path part accommodating the recording paper convenience path 24 in the space part is small. Although in such a case, for actually carrying out jam removing work, the conveyance path part should be moved and opened to such a predetermined position in the space part as that for a fully opened state, and be held as it is. As a result, a large amount of the conveyance path part opening work is required.